That’s it, guys! Ajax’s Hakim Ziyech is the new big thing who’s coming for Chelsea! The Blues, who were punished by FIFA with the prohibition to sign for two transfer windows, later reduced to one by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, announced this Thursday the first reinforcement since the end of the punishment.
He is 26-year-old Moroccan striker Hakim Ziyech, coming from Dutch side Ajax.
Although the contract was closed between the three parts this Thursday, the transfer will not be completed until the opening of the summer transfer window, by early July. In order to count on the Moroccan striker, Chelsea will pay 40 million euros fixed, plus four million euros in variables by goals.
This is Frank Lampard’s first signing as Chelsea manager. One of the reasons for the English offensive by Ziyech is the fact that the Brazilian Willian and the Spanish Pedro are players who are at the end of their contract and have not yet signed a contract extension with the Blues from London yet.
Ziyech has spent his entire career in the Netherlands. He began his career at Heerenveen, then moved to Twente and he’s been playing for the Dutch giants since 2016.
He has played 18 games in the Dutch Eredivisie so far this season and has six goals scored and 13 assists. He was also recently named to the African team of the year 2019.
It was indeed a really good move from Chelsea. Since the end of the last season, a lot of teams had shown interest in signing Ziyech, but he preferred to stay playing for Ajax. Even his manager, Erik Ten Hag, said that he was actually surprised by the commitment Ziyech has shown to the Dutch club.
We all know that despite showing your commitment and dedication to the club is important for the players. It’s also a fact that Ajax is a giant in the Football world, and even bigger than Chelsea. However, we also know that money talks, and, as for this moment, Chelsea counts on a bigger budget either to bring in new players or to offer them better and bigger wages.
Ziyech is an excellent player, and he can be that missing piece Chelsea’s been looking for since the Eden Hazard departure to Real Madrid, back at the beginning of this season.